The group of seventh and eighth graders were split into six groups of ten today to take student-led tours through the tech center. I got to lead a group, and it was amazing!
The tech center features so many wonderful opportunities that juniors and seniors in high school can participate in. In the construction area, they get to build a full house that will get auctioned off later. In power sports and mechanics, students have a clientele base that they work on vehicles for.
The students really responded well to this experience. A common theme that kept coming up all day was "college credit." Students get to have a headstart on college classes while learning skills that can help them sit apart from others competing for the same jobs. They have to use their core class knowledge and transferrable skills in real-world experience.
This opportunity made flexible pathways seem all the more achievable to me. Students can participate in things that they like (first hand experience) and get college credit while simultaneously meeting standards. A big focus of the day was telling the students that, while tech students often spend the majority of their time in their field, they are still learning and using skills that transferred from traditional, core classes. A lot of times, there is a stigma surrounding students and programs with hands-on activities. When I was in high school, it was a generally accepted idea that students who were struggling in school were the ones who worked on mechanics all day, for example. Instead, this day was addressing that stigma, and helping students see the great opportunities for learning and success that this center provides them with.
It was an exciting (and exhausting) day!
P.S. I accidentally got chosen to be a "student volunteer" in one of the classes. DO I LOOK LIKE I'M IN MIDDLE SCHOOL?????
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
The Writing Process
I read the first chapter of this book, Strategic Writing: The Writing Process and Beyond in the Secondary English Classroom, after I read the recommendations on the National Council of Teachers of English website. As indicated by the title, the focus of this book was about encouraging the writing process inside the classroom-specifically- rather than assigning a writing piece without regularly checking on the progress and editing process. The book stressed the importance of developing strategies. Teachers should bring strategies into the classroom, and should encourage students to bring strategies into the writing process, as well- strategies that are tailored to their needs.
Students should "stop thinking of prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing as products the teachers requires." Rather, they should see the entire process as a strategy to successful thinking. This shift in perspective makes the process more meaningful and the students are more likely to use the process outside of the requirements.
We cannot simply begin with, "This is what a thesis statement is. This is where it goes..." and expect students to fully implement. We should be putting more emphasis on the strategy of implementation and conditioning the writing.
One way to do this is to include peer editing. I've seen this process firsthand in Ms. Baldwin's room, and I love it. Students read each other's work, highlighting components that are strong- thesis statements, supporting evidence, etc- and comment on things that might be in need of revision. This is such a valuable piece. Not only do writers receive quality, guided feedback, but they learn how to be critical readers and provide effective feedback.
This book also stressed the need for inquiry based writing. Inquiry strategies help students to focus and develop ideas. As one individual wrote, students "cannot be writers unless they are first thinkers." We need to present subjects where students can explore and test the boundaries while uncovering new details.
Another important component that is included with the writing process is the reflection piece. Undoubtedly, this is often left out. Students should reflect on the changes made to their pieces, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the writing. This is a transferrable skill where they, once again, have to be critical thinkers and readers.
Students should "stop thinking of prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing as products the teachers requires." Rather, they should see the entire process as a strategy to successful thinking. This shift in perspective makes the process more meaningful and the students are more likely to use the process outside of the requirements.
We cannot simply begin with, "This is what a thesis statement is. This is where it goes..." and expect students to fully implement. We should be putting more emphasis on the strategy of implementation and conditioning the writing.
One way to do this is to include peer editing. I've seen this process firsthand in Ms. Baldwin's room, and I love it. Students read each other's work, highlighting components that are strong- thesis statements, supporting evidence, etc- and comment on things that might be in need of revision. This is such a valuable piece. Not only do writers receive quality, guided feedback, but they learn how to be critical readers and provide effective feedback.
This book also stressed the need for inquiry based writing. Inquiry strategies help students to focus and develop ideas. As one individual wrote, students "cannot be writers unless they are first thinkers." We need to present subjects where students can explore and test the boundaries while uncovering new details.
Another important component that is included with the writing process is the reflection piece. Undoubtedly, this is often left out. Students should reflect on the changes made to their pieces, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the writing. This is a transferrable skill where they, once again, have to be critical thinkers and readers.
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Another Hump Day with the Eighth Grade
Ms. Baldwin had the eighth graders write a reflection on the close of their identity unit as they get into a new unit on dystopian literature.
Dystopian literature is a popular genre in this class. Students love the Hunger Games, the Maze Runner, Divergent, and more. Needless to say: the class was pumped. Ms. Baldwin had a powerpoint where she discussed the different elements of dystopian literature. Class ran out of time before getting too far into the powerpoint. However, the kid were pretty psyched to get cruising.
The book the students will all be reading was not yet introduced. Ms. Baldwin only said that she wants to stress that it is a dystopian book written far before the more present day, famous novels like The Hunger Games. She wanted to address the misconception that this genre was new.
The class opened an online chat about the role of dystopia vs. utopia. Students responded to each other's comments. This was a good way to have a discussion where every student gets involved. Rather than calling on raised hands, all students had to address the prompt, refer to each other's comments, and then audibly discuss if they had questions.
It was fun to see the introduction of a new unit in this way. I like this discussion idea and I think I might use it!
Dystopian literature is a popular genre in this class. Students love the Hunger Games, the Maze Runner, Divergent, and more. Needless to say: the class was pumped. Ms. Baldwin had a powerpoint where she discussed the different elements of dystopian literature. Class ran out of time before getting too far into the powerpoint. However, the kid were pretty psyched to get cruising.
The book the students will all be reading was not yet introduced. Ms. Baldwin only said that she wants to stress that it is a dystopian book written far before the more present day, famous novels like The Hunger Games. She wanted to address the misconception that this genre was new.
The class opened an online chat about the role of dystopia vs. utopia. Students responded to each other's comments. This was a good way to have a discussion where every student gets involved. Rather than calling on raised hands, all students had to address the prompt, refer to each other's comments, and then audibly discuss if they had questions.
It was fun to see the introduction of a new unit in this way. I like this discussion idea and I think I might use it!
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
substitute teacher in the eighth grade
Ms. Baldwin was at a conference today. The substitute teacher came in with detailed notes about the agenda for the students. Basically, the students would be completing their projects for the identity unit. They had to upload work to their ThingLink and decorate their self-portraits. From there, they would take a survey about interests they have and possible careers to consider.
The students stayed relatively on task throughout the day. My job was the same as always--enforce Ms. Baldwin's rules and motivate the students to stay on task while asking questions and offering feedback. The students got to use a lot of creativity today, and, for the most part, the students responded positively to it and stayed on task.
Only one consideration: yesterday was the presidential election. I was surprised by how many students had stayed up late to watch the polling. All of the students seemed to have opinions that they wanted to discuss. In order to stay on task, the substitute teacher made a policy that the students were not allowed to discuss the elections from last night. Many students were really upset about this, especially since a few of them had stayed up to watch the polls and wanted to share their thoughts from their experience.
If I were in charge, I would have started the class with a conversation (even if it was five minutes or less) to allow the students to share their thoughts. At least then, the students could get out their thoughts about the issues that were really relevant to them. Since this was at the very beginning of the school day, they had not yet had any opportunities to consider and discuss the elections. I think the majority of the class would have an easier time going about their work after they felt like they were heard about the big issues that mattered to them. It would even be nice to have them free-write about it. After all, their identity unit is circulating current events and things about them RIGHT NOW. This would have made for a great opportunity to discuss their current opinions on the world.
Other than that, the day went pretty smoothly. I am happy to announce that I am becoming quite familiar with the ipads, and am capable of actually helping students with basic technological tasks (I couldn't do that earlier in the semester, so this is a great leap!)
It would have been nice to have a debriefing time about the elections today, but the day itself DID go well and I felt that I offered valuable supports to the new substitute teacher who was unfamiliar with some of the activities of the day.
SIDE NOTE: Oh my goodness, Trump won...
The students stayed relatively on task throughout the day. My job was the same as always--enforce Ms. Baldwin's rules and motivate the students to stay on task while asking questions and offering feedback. The students got to use a lot of creativity today, and, for the most part, the students responded positively to it and stayed on task.
Only one consideration: yesterday was the presidential election. I was surprised by how many students had stayed up late to watch the polling. All of the students seemed to have opinions that they wanted to discuss. In order to stay on task, the substitute teacher made a policy that the students were not allowed to discuss the elections from last night. Many students were really upset about this, especially since a few of them had stayed up to watch the polls and wanted to share their thoughts from their experience.
If I were in charge, I would have started the class with a conversation (even if it was five minutes or less) to allow the students to share their thoughts. At least then, the students could get out their thoughts about the issues that were really relevant to them. Since this was at the very beginning of the school day, they had not yet had any opportunities to consider and discuss the elections. I think the majority of the class would have an easier time going about their work after they felt like they were heard about the big issues that mattered to them. It would even be nice to have them free-write about it. After all, their identity unit is circulating current events and things about them RIGHT NOW. This would have made for a great opportunity to discuss their current opinions on the world.
Other than that, the day went pretty smoothly. I am happy to announce that I am becoming quite familiar with the ipads, and am capable of actually helping students with basic technological tasks (I couldn't do that earlier in the semester, so this is a great leap!)
It would have been nice to have a debriefing time about the elections today, but the day itself DID go well and I felt that I offered valuable supports to the new substitute teacher who was unfamiliar with some of the activities of the day.
SIDE NOTE: Oh my goodness, Trump won...
Friday, November 4, 2016
Word Nerds: Celebrating Student Success
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite books pertaining to English Education. I find the techniques and activities so valuable and purposeful. I can't wait to put them in practice (except there's so many, I can't decide which ones are my favorites!)
The chapter, "Celebrate to Validate" mainly hones in on the importance of recognizing student achievement in the area of vocabulary while still creating atmospheres for learning.
One such activity is called Block Party. This activity is still a learning activity, but also brings in components of community and social skills. The students all wear lanyards with a word on it. The first student stands up and invites all of the synonyms in the room to the party. Then, he or she invites all of the antonyms. This process continues for all of the main and connected words. Once all of the words are "at the block party," the students need to mingle and meet the new acquaintances (i.e. the new words). They have to introduce themselves (i.e. the word on their lanyard) and tell each other a little about themselves (i.e. the meaning of the word and important things to remember about the word). Another valuable component about this activity is reinforcing social skills, particularly in terms of introducing one's self and maintaining conversation. PLUS it's always a good idea to actually have snacks for the block party.
That is one example of many that were provided in this chapter. The general idea is that students will really engage with the words and find the material enjoyable, while simultaneously getting rewarded for their hard work in vocabulary practice. In order for this game to go smoothly, the students should have a base understanding of the words. As they engage with each other, they can learn more and more about their own words, as well as the words of other people.
The chapter, "Celebrate to Validate" mainly hones in on the importance of recognizing student achievement in the area of vocabulary while still creating atmospheres for learning.
One such activity is called Block Party. This activity is still a learning activity, but also brings in components of community and social skills. The students all wear lanyards with a word on it. The first student stands up and invites all of the synonyms in the room to the party. Then, he or she invites all of the antonyms. This process continues for all of the main and connected words. Once all of the words are "at the block party," the students need to mingle and meet the new acquaintances (i.e. the new words). They have to introduce themselves (i.e. the word on their lanyard) and tell each other a little about themselves (i.e. the meaning of the word and important things to remember about the word). Another valuable component about this activity is reinforcing social skills, particularly in terms of introducing one's self and maintaining conversation. PLUS it's always a good idea to actually have snacks for the block party.
That is one example of many that were provided in this chapter. The general idea is that students will really engage with the words and find the material enjoyable, while simultaneously getting rewarded for their hard work in vocabulary practice. In order for this game to go smoothly, the students should have a base understanding of the words. As they engage with each other, they can learn more and more about their own words, as well as the words of other people.
Hump Day in the Eighth Grade
The students of the eighth grade are wrapping up their Identity Unit Projects--consisting of a ThingLink with photographs, poems, short stories, and other elements to show who they are now and who they want to be.
It was a busy day that depended highly on student participation and individual learning. The students had to update their notebooks with current information (pulling from their work online as well as paper copies) before diving into their projects.
Each student was at a different place. Some students were finishing up writing short stories about themselves (they had to pick one event from their life and write it in short story form, adhering to dialogue, grammar, and other short story elements), others were organizing their notebook work, and still others were assembling their work into a visual representation on ThingLink.
My role was the same as it always in the classroom. I walk around and monitor student work, answering questions and posing questions to help them with wherever they are at. I mainly had to remind the students to keep moving on to other activities once they were finished with the ones they were at.
When short stories were finished, the students had to trade stories with other students and peer review each other's work. They had to color code the story elements that Ms. Baldwin was specifically looking for. For example, elements of dialogue were highlighted in blue while internal dialogue was highlighted in orange. Students were to have all of the elements in their story, so this served as a good check and balance system.
I generally like the style of Ms. Baldwin's classroom. It revolves around individual work and the class rarely uses a traditional, lecture style. The only thing I have to remember is to constantly be checking in and keeping students on task (but I would have to do that anyway so it isn't a burden at all!)
It was a busy day that depended highly on student participation and individual learning. The students had to update their notebooks with current information (pulling from their work online as well as paper copies) before diving into their projects.
Each student was at a different place. Some students were finishing up writing short stories about themselves (they had to pick one event from their life and write it in short story form, adhering to dialogue, grammar, and other short story elements), others were organizing their notebook work, and still others were assembling their work into a visual representation on ThingLink.
My role was the same as it always in the classroom. I walk around and monitor student work, answering questions and posing questions to help them with wherever they are at. I mainly had to remind the students to keep moving on to other activities once they were finished with the ones they were at.
When short stories were finished, the students had to trade stories with other students and peer review each other's work. They had to color code the story elements that Ms. Baldwin was specifically looking for. For example, elements of dialogue were highlighted in blue while internal dialogue was highlighted in orange. Students were to have all of the elements in their story, so this served as a good check and balance system.
I generally like the style of Ms. Baldwin's classroom. It revolves around individual work and the class rarely uses a traditional, lecture style. The only thing I have to remember is to constantly be checking in and keeping students on task (but I would have to do that anyway so it isn't a burden at all!)
Friday: School Assembly
All of the teams from the middle school got together to pass out awards, show student-made videos and skits, and perform music.
It was an exciting rally. One team from the school is in charge of putting on the assembly--a different team each time. The team responsible creates videos to advertise clubs, show student achievement, and give out awards to students from each team.
The kids obviously love this event. They gathered in the assembly room with high energy, participated (for the most part) with the cheering and singing, and (for the most part) were very attentive.
All in all, I like this sort of incentive for the students. The students can be awarded for various aspects--not purely, traditionally academic. They have a chance for winning. Videos and photographs catalog their greatest achievements, and they seem to be ever-grateful for a diversion from the regular Friday schedule.
I enjoyed being a part of the assembly. I got to see first hand the work that students and faculty alike put into it, and I got to see the general benefits of congratulating the students with incentives and rewards.
It was an exciting rally. One team from the school is in charge of putting on the assembly--a different team each time. The team responsible creates videos to advertise clubs, show student achievement, and give out awards to students from each team.
The kids obviously love this event. They gathered in the assembly room with high energy, participated (for the most part) with the cheering and singing, and (for the most part) were very attentive.
All in all, I like this sort of incentive for the students. The students can be awarded for various aspects--not purely, traditionally academic. They have a chance for winning. Videos and photographs catalog their greatest achievements, and they seem to be ever-grateful for a diversion from the regular Friday schedule.
I enjoyed being a part of the assembly. I got to see first hand the work that students and faculty alike put into it, and I got to see the general benefits of congratulating the students with incentives and rewards.
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